Corporation to build 78 micro composting centres in parks.

Continuing on its mission to have wet, degradable waste processed close to the place of generation, the Coimbatore Corporation will soon establish 78 micro composting centres (MCCs) in parks across the city.

The corporation will take the waste from garden that the conservancy workers collect to the nearest MCC where it will be dried, shredded, sieved and turned into compost. It will then use the compost to manure plants in the parks, say officials familiar with the project.

The corporation has floated tenders for 25 of the 78 MCCs and is in the process of floating tenders for another 36. Each of the MCCs will have the capacity to process either half-a-tonne or a tonne of garden waste and the cost of building those will be around ₹5 crore.

This is in keeping with the corporation’s move to process biodegradable waste locally and construct 65 MCCs in various parts of the city. The 65 MCCs will be in addition to the 78 planned in parks, the officials say and add that of the 65 the corporation has already begun work in Onapalayam, Kavundampalayam and at the ward 44 office, near Nallampalayam.

The corporation is constructing 10 of the 65 MCCs at ₹5.87 crore with its fund, another 10 from the Smart Cities at ₹11.62 crore and the rest under the Swachh Bharat Mission, for which it has sought funds from the State Government.

All the MCCs will help the corporation process about 240 metric tonnes waste a day and this, in turn, will have a direct bearing the quantity of waste transported to Vellalore in that the corporation will have to move only around 300 tonnes waste a day to the Vellalore site.

The city generates about 860 metric tonnes waste a day and 59 per cent of it is bio-degradable, which is a little more than 500 tonnes a day. The Coimbatore Integrated Waste Management Company Limited processes 250 tonnes waste a day, the corporation sends more than 50 tonnes to its vermin composting plant and another five tonnes goes to biogas plants. This leaves the corporation with around 200 tonnes a day and this is the waste that it is trying to target and process locally, the officials add.

As part of the plans to collect the degradable waste, the corporation will also be investing in small goods carriers and battery-operated vehicles, as the vehicles can be used to collect more waste than what is at presented collected with the help of pushcarts and bins.

The officials say the corporation’s move is in keeping with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 guidelines of processing waste locally.

THE HINDU